Improvement in street-cars



.No..93,322. Patentd Aug. 3, 1869.

MADISON & McLAUGH LIN.

Street-Car Platform.

Wiinesses 7111674101 51 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN F. MADISON AND HENRY MOLAUGHLIN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

IMPROVEMENT IN STREET-CARS.

specificatio n forming part of Letters Patent No. 93,322, dated August 3, 1869.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, J OHN F. MADISON and HENRY MOLAUGHLIN, of St. Louis, in the county of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Gates for Street-Oars and Similar Vehicles; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full and true description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to the gates or doors to be used on the platforms of street-cars and similar vehicles, and, in the usual application of said invention, the same acts to prevent ingress of passengers at the forward steps and platform, in order to prevent injury to which persons using said steps and platform may be liable.

Said invention is in the arrangement for supporting the gate, so as to exclude passengers from stepping upon the platform or the steps leading thereto, and at the same time being so arranged that said gates may be readily opened and swung back, and leave a free passage when the platform is intended for use as a passage.

To enable those herein skilled to make and use our said invention, we will now more fully describe the same, referring to the accompanying Figures 1 and 2 as elevation and plan, respectively, of the gate closed, and to Fig. 3 as an elevation showing the gate swung open.

We form the gate-A of iron or other substantial material, and hinge the same by the loops at to the side rail, B, arranged on the carbody 0. Said loops a may slide up or down upon the rail B, in accordance with the movement given to the gate A. When said gate is closed, as in Figs. 1 and 2, the same passes down to the edge of the step 0, thus preventing persons from obtaining a foothold, and effectually barring all entrance. In said position the forward edge of the gate rests, by its side prongs, a, against the rod D, attached to the dash-board E and the platform F. To prevent the gate from being pressed back, the end rail, a, of the same presses against the part f of the platform, and the highest prong, o engages in thekerf dof the rod D. By the curved form of the top of the rod D, the engagement of the prong a in the kerf d serves also to sustain the weight of the gate in whole or in part. By raising the gate vertically, it is disengaged from said closed position, and when the lower end thereof clears the platform F it may be swung back, and, resting against the front side of the car-body, is sustained and held in place by the catch 9, into which one of the prongs, a, drops. a

In order that the inner edge of the gate shall not obstruct or project, to cause discomfort or damage to the clothes of passengers in passing, we arrange the guard-rail H, shielding the projections a a Having thus fully described our said invention, what we claim is 1. The gate A, its loops a, the rail B, the prongs a a", and the rod D, with its kerf d, when arranged with the platform F and dashboard E, substantially as set forth.

2. The gate A, its loops at, and the rail B, the prong a, and catch 9, and guard H, all combined and arranged substantially as set forth.

In witness of said invention we have hereunto set our hands in presence of witnesses.

JOHN F. MADISON. HENRY MOLAUGHLIN.

Witnesses: v

WILLIAM W. HERTHEL, ROBERT BURNs'. 

